John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of DefeatJohn Owen was a leading theologian in seventeenth century England. Closely associated with the regicide and revolution, he befriended Oliver Cromwell, was appointed vice chancellor of the University of Oxford, and became the premier religious statesman of the Interregnum. The restoration of the monarchy pushed Owen into dissent, criminalizing his religious practice and inspiring his writings in defense of high Calvinism and religious toleration. Owen